Won’t Allow Bangladesh Soil to be Used for Terror: Sheikh Hasina

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. (Picture courtesy: Twitter)

Dhaka: Vowing "zero tolerance" against terrorism, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Thursday assured India that Bangladesh will not allow its soil to be used for terror acts against any country as defence minister Manohar Parrikar called on her to discuss bolstering security ties.

"We won't tolerate any sorts of terrorism and militancy and won't allow our land to be used for carrying out terrorist acts against any country," Hasina told Parrikar, who called on her at her official Ganobhaban residence in Dhaka.

According to Hasina's press secretary Ihsanul Karim, she recalled with gratitude the contribution of Indian armed forces to Bangladesh's Liberation War and told Parrikar that during her upcoming visit to India she would honour those Indian soldiers who died during the 1971 freedom war.

On his part, Parrikar said "it was our moral responsibility to extend help to Bangladesh in the War of Liberation as a friendly country and we provided that assistance."

After the meeting, he handed over Hasina a replica of a helicopter that India used during Bangladesh's liberation war and photographs of paratroopers who took part in that war. Parrikar, who was accompanied by a high-level defence delegation, offered Indian expertise to train Bangladesh Coast Guards for enhanced capacity to guard the country's southern coastlines along the Bay of Bengal. Hasina thanked the Indian Coast Guards for rescuing Bangladeshi fishermen recently.

Parrikar appreciated Bangladesh's tremendous socio-economic development, particularly the women empowerment under Hasina's leadership, saying "Bangladesh made impressive development in various sectors, especially women empowerment, which India could not do yet".

His meeting with Hasina came at the end of a twoday visit, the first by an Indian defence minister, during which he called on President Abdul Hamid and also met premier's security adviser Major Gen (retd.) Tariq Ahmed Siddiqui.